![[Industry News] Bastion Brings Exceptional Service, International Reach to North American Games Companies with Launch of Bastion America](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://mcvuk.com/wp-content/uploads/Rebekah_Nicodemus_4.jpg)
[Industry News] Bastion Brings Exceptional Service, International Reach to North American Games Companies with Launch of Bastion America
Bastion, the award‑winning video‑games communications agency, has opened Bastion America, a US‑based arm designed to deliver the same high‑caliber strategic, media and community services to North American developers. The new division is led by Rebekah Nicodemus, a former Amazon Games executive with a track record at Blizzard and Grayling. Bastion America will draw on the firm’s 30‑year legacy and its OneVoice global network to help clients achieve domestic growth and international momentum. Its service suite spans strategy, media, influencer, social, crisis and marketing consultancy.
MindsEye Studio Reportedly Installed Monitoring Software on Staff PCs without Their Knowledge, as Execs Continue Alleging Sabotage
Build A Rocket Boy installed Teramind monitoring software on staff PCs without prior notice, prompting employees to notice slower performance and later sign an updated IT privacy policy. The rollout coincided with executives alleging a coordinated external campaign to sabotage...
Pretty Platformer Sequel Planet of Lana II Gets a Pretty Good Steam Demo Tomorrow, Ahead of Its Surprise March Release
Wishful's Planet of Lana II will launch on March 5 2026, with a Steam demo hitting the platform on February 11. The demo showcases the sequel’s expanded hand‑painted visuals, larger puzzles, and new mechanics such as Mui’s ability to control wildlife thralls, including an...
Ilsa's Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising Character Guide Released in Preparation for Her Release Today
Cygames released a detailed guide for Ilsa, the newest DLC fighter in Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising, ahead of her in‑game debut later today. The guide reveals a unique nine‑bullet resource system that fuels her attacks and follow‑ups, with a dedicated reload...
GE-Proton 10-30 Released with Fixes for Arknights Endfield and the EA App
GE‑Proton 10‑30 has been released, bringing community‑maintained patches that improve compatibility for Arknights Endfield, EA titles, and winewayland systray handling. The update also introduces experimental support for compiling Proton on aarch64/ARM platforms, though it requires an unreleased umu‑launcher build. Users are advised...
“It Was Just Flawless for Me and for the Team” – ZywOo on His IEM Kraków Grand Final Performance
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut described his IEM Kraków 2026 Grand Final as flawless, leading Vitality to a decisive victory over FURIA and securing a rare back‑to‑back IEM title. He highlighted his peak hybrid AWP performance, noting how it opened strategic options for his...
![[Industry News] Hitoshi Sakimoto Invites You to Join Him for Game Music Festival 2026](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://mcvuk.com/wp-content/uploads/featured.jpg)
[Industry News] Hitoshi Sakimoto Invites You to Join Him for Game Music Festival 2026
Composer Hitoshi Sakimoto announced a 40th‑anniversary concert, “The Colors of Harmony,” in London on 13 June 2026 as part of the Game Music Festival. The event will showcase orchestral versions of his scores for Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy XII, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim and...
![[Industry News] Aether & Iron, Narrative RPG, Coming to PC March 31](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://mcvuk.com/wp-content/uploads/aether.png)
[Industry News] Aether & Iron, Narrative RPG, Coming to PC March 31
Seismic Squirrel announced that its narrative‑driven RPG *Aether & Iron* will launch on PC via Steam on March 31, 2026. The game places players in an alternate‑1930s New York where aether enables vertical cityscapes and anti‑gravity tech. Players control Gia, a...
Mario Tennis Fever Review
Mario Tennis Fever launches on the upcoming Switch 2 with a $70 price tag, delivering solid core tennis mechanics but a lackluster single‑player adventure. The review criticizes the adventure mode’s disjointed vignettes, excessive cutscenes, and filler content that feels more like...
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls' Launch Roster Size Revealed
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls will launch with a roster of 20 fighters, confirming the size of the initial character pool. So far only eight heroes—Captain America, Iron Man, Storm, Doctor Doom, Star‑Lord, Ms. Marvel, Spider‑Man and Ghost Rider—have been officially named, leaving...
Just Look at Ayaneo's Absolute Unit of a Windows Gaming "Handheld"
Ayaneo unveiled the Next II, a 13‑inch Windows gaming handheld that tips the scales at 3.14 pounds, dwarfing rivals like the Steam Deck and Lenovo Legion Go. The device packs a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor with a Radeon 8060S GPU, delivering performance comparable to...
Tekken 8 Version 2.09 Patch Notes Released
Bandai Namco released Tekken 8 Version 2.09 on February 9, accompanied by the Season 3 Pass priced at $35. The patch introduces new DLC, a Qipao costume pack, and a five‑week 2nd‑anniversary campaign, but it does not alter character balance. Server maintenance runs from 1:30 p.m. PT...
Riot Games Is Laying Off Around 80 2XKO Employees Three Weeks After The Game's Launch
Riot Games announced it is laying off roughly 80 employees from its 2XKO fighting‑game team, representing about half of the development staff. The cuts come just weeks after the game’s 1.0 launch on PC and consoles, with the company citing...
Atreus Has Been Cast In Amazon’s Live-Action God Of War Series
Amazon has announced Callum Vinson as Atreus for its live‑action God of War series, joining Ryan Hurst as Kratos. Vinson, known for roles in Chucky and The Night Agent, brings youthful credibility to the ten‑year‑old son central to the 2018...
A Former Rockstar Dev Is Making a Satisfactory-Style Survival Game About Doomed Expeditions on a Strange Planet
Former Rockstar QA tester Alex Kane’s studio Pawsmonaut Games is set to release Aethus, a sci‑fi survival title that blends Satisfactory‑style automation with a narrative‑driven third‑person perspective. Players explore layered underground caves, build holographic bases, and uncover a megacorp’s dark...
Team Ninja Fix a Terrifying "Very Rare" Nioh 3 Bug that Corrupts Your Save when You Pray at Shrine Checkpoints
Team Ninja released a weekend patch for Nioh 3 that eliminates a rare bug which corrupted player save files when exiting at shrine checkpoints. The update also addresses several stability issues, including multiplayer map fall‑throughs, crashes when selecting “Become A Visitor,”...
If You Want Nothing More than to Hollow Out a Brutalist Alien Monolith, Then Tower Defence Mining Game Iter-8 Is...
Iter-8 is a new indie title that blends upward mining with tower‑defence mechanics, tasking players with excavating a brutalist monolith while fending off waves of red‑eyed monsters. Resources harvested in the mines fund upgrades for both the drilling equipment and...
Helldivers 2 Rolls Out the Cyborgs as a Barrage of Bloodcurdling Binary Heralds the Machinery of Oppression Update
Arrowhead Games announced the Machinery of Oppression update for Helldivers 2, arriving on February 10, 2026. The patch introduces three new cyborg enemy classes—Agitators, Radicals, and the Vox Engine—who fight alongside the Automaton faction on the newly contested planet Cyberstan. Existing gameplay is...
How a Decades-Old Video Game Has Helped Me Defeat the Doomscroll
Writer Michael Roberts replaces his smartphone with a Nintendo Game Boy Advance to combat doomscrolling, playing Pokémon FireRed, a 30‑year‑old remake. Within weeks he reports a three‑hour weekly reduction in screen time and finds the retro game’s low‑stakes, nostalgic design more...
Games Workshop Had a Warhammer FTL Clone Pulled From Steam over some Overly Space Marine-Esque Shoulderpads
Void War, an indie space‑strategy game likened to FTL meets Warhammer 40,000, was temporarily pulled from Steam after Games Workshop issued a DMCA takedown over shoulder‑pad artwork that resembled the publisher’s Space Marine design. The developers, Tundra Interactive, confirmed the claim’s...
Horses Devs Accuse Epic of Making "Provably Incorrect Statements About the Game’s Content", After Store Exec's Declaration of Love
Epic Games reaffirmed that the horror title Horses breaches its Inappropriate Content and Hateful or Abusive Content policies, resulting in an adult‑only (AO) rating that the Epic Store does not support. Santa Ragione contends Epic’s statements about the game’s content are...
PlayStation Gameplay Chart, Week Ending February 8th, 2026
The PlayStation Gameplay Chart for the week ending February 8 2026, compiled from over 2.9 million active accounts, places Fortnite at #1, followed by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Roblox. Grand Theft Auto V, NBA 2K26 and EA SPORTS FC 26 round out the top five, showing...
Nioh 3 Is Killing It on Steam with over Double the Series' Highest Concurrent Player Count
HoYoverse announced Genshin Impact version Luna 5, arriving on February 25, featuring a nostalgic return to Mondstadt and the long‑awaited playable debut of Varka, a 5‑Star Anemo Claymore wielder. The update adds new events like Echoes of Memory, revamped Gliding and Combat...
Mesa 25.3.5 Arrives with Bug Fixes for Open Source Linux Graphics Drivers
Mesa 25.3.5 was released, delivering a series of bug fixes that target Intel and AMD drivers, as well as RDNA 3/4 graphics cards. The update resolves crashes in MPEG‑2 transcoding with Vulkan, a static‑linking regression, and shader integer I/O errors. Additional...
Vulkan-Based Translation Layer D7VK Officially Expands to Include Direct3D 5 Support
Vulkan‑based translation layer D7VK has released version 1.3, extending support to Direct3D 5 while retaining D3D6 and D3D7 compatibility. The update introduces optional FSAA emulation, refined logging prefixes, and several bug fixes that resolve rendering glitches and texture‑loading issues in classic...
Steam Game People Playground Hit by Malware via the Steam Workshop
People Playground’s Steam Workshop was compromised in early February 2026 when a malicious mod called “FPS++” acted as a worm, deleting user data and spamming workshop items. The malware erased configurations, maps, and stats while preserving playtime, leaving achievements unrecoverable....
Yakuza Kiwami 3 Director Says Actor Accused of Sexual Assault Was Cast for His “Slimy Feel”
Director Ryosuke Horii defended the casting of actor Teruyuki Kagawa as Goh Hamazaki in the upcoming Yakuza Kiwami 3 remake, despite 2022 sexual‑assault allegations against Kagawa. Horii said Kagawa’s “slimy” performance fit the character’s creepiness, and recasting would have been “safer”...
Steam Early Access Games Can Now Have a Planned Release Date Listed
Valve has updated Steam Early Access listings to allow developers to display a planned full release date, mirroring the functionality of Coming Soon pages. The change aims to reduce confusion for potential buyers and give studios a clear way to...
![[Industry News] Yodo1 Unveils IPVerse to Eliminate High-Stakes Guesswork in Global Game Licensing](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://mcvuk.com/wp-content/uploads/IPVerse-Logo.jpeg){kind=logo}
[Industry News] Yodo1 Unveils IPVerse to Eliminate High-Stakes Guesswork in Global Game Licensing
Yodo1 Games has launched IPVerse, a free data‑intelligence platform that consolidates global IP and licensing information for in‑game collaborations. The service draws from over 80,000 events, 20,000 brands and 15,000 games, offering AI‑driven matching, popularity indices and regional insights, including...
Don't Like How Often Map Conditions Rotate in Arc Raiders? Sorry, but the Devs Say "that Most Likely Won't Change"
Arc Raiders continues its rotating map‑condition system, a core design choice affirmed by CEO Patrick Söderlund. The studio says the schedule creates tension, encourages players to move between maps, and will remain largely unchanged. While new conditions will be added,...
Prince of Persia Creator Shares His Sympathies with The Sands of Time Remake Devs: "Artists Put Their Hearts Into Their...
Ubisoft announced the cancellation of the long‑awaited Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake as part of a sweeping restructuring that threatens up to 200 jobs at its Paris headquarters. Jordan Mechner, the original game’s creator, posted a blog...
Exodus' Writer Wants to Make the Mass Effect Successor's Side Quests so Good You Won't Care if You're Rewarded for...
Exodus, the upcoming sci‑fi RPG from Archetype Entertainment, is set to redefine side quests by making them intrinsically rewarding rather than obligatory. Narrative director Drew Karpyshyn emphasizes that quests will tie into the game’s themes and companion arcs, offering meaningful...
“There Is Nothing New for Me” – Zont1x on Returning to Spirit, Increasing His Voice in the Team, and Spirit’s...
Team Spirit’s anchor Myroslav “zont1x” Plakhotia returned to the roster after a year away, citing a need to readjust to professional Counter‑Strike. He emphasized his increased influence on in‑game strategy and preparation, noting a shift toward a more balanced mix...
The First Descendant Update Adds New Character Dia, Episode 3 Story, and Endgame Content
Nexon rolled out a major update for its looter‑shooter The First Descendant, introducing a new Chill‑attribute character named Dia. The patch adds Season 3 Episode 3’s story focusing on Dia’s hidden past, a fresh underwater dungeon with the Sarcophage boss, and two...
Kt Rolster Eliminated From 2026 LCK Cup as Coach ScoreTakes Responsibility for Upset Loss
kt Rolster were eliminated from the 2026 LCK Cup after a 2‑0 loss to DN Supers in the Play‑In Round 1. The team blew a 10,000‑gold advantage in Game 1 and fell flat in Game 2, prompting a decisive upset. Head coach...
World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary Servers Launch
Blizzard Entertainment launched the World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary servers on February 6, 2026, adding the iconic Outland expansion to the existing Classic realms. The update introduces two new playable races—Blood Elves and Draenei—expands the level cap to...
Hideo Kojima Pulls Out of GDC 2026 Keynote Appearance
Hideo Kojima announced he will not attend the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2026 keynote he was slated to deliver. The cancellation was posted by Kojima Productions on X, with no explanation provided. The keynote, titled “Starting Over From Zero,” was...
Seven Knights Re:BIRTH Comes to Epic Games Store, Adds Four Lords Hero Lu Bu
Netmarble has launched Seven Knights Re:BIRTH on the Epic Games Store, extending the game from mobile to PC. The update adds two Legendary heroes, including the Four Lords champion Lu Bu, and introduces a Lu Bu Rate‑Up Summon event. Additional content features the...
Square Enix Announce Paranormasight: The Mermaid's Curse, Sequel to One of 2023's Best Horror Mystery Games
Square Enix announced Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse, a summer sequel to the acclaimed horror‑mystery visual novel Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo. The new title shifts the setting from gloomy urban streets to Japan’s coastal regions, introducing a diving minigame...
Beaver City-Builder Timberborn Confirmed for Launch on March 5
Timberborn, the beaver‑themed city‑builder praised for its innovative mechanics, will exit Early Access on March 5, 2026 with its 1.0 launch. The full release bundles an expanded tutorial, modding improvements, Steam achievements, a new map type, UI refinements, visual upgrades, translation fixes...
Butcher by Day, People Hunter by Night - ZOMBUTCHER Sounds Like a Fun but Gruesome Sim
ZOMBUTCHER is an upcoming indie title that fuses shop‑keeping simulation with stealth‑action horror, casting players as a zombie butcher who sells meat to humans by day and hunts them by night. Set in a grimy Louisiana town, the game features...
Safe In Our World Has a Big Charity Bundle up on Fanatical with some Great Picks
Safe In Our World, a mental‑health charity, has launched its sixth Fanatical charity bundle, offering 22 curated games for a minimum of £17.99. All proceeds from the bundle go directly to the charity, continuing a partnership that has already raised...
JSAUX Announce a Charging-Friendly Steam Deck Travel Case
JSAUX unveiled the Double‑Decker Travel Supply Case for the Steam Deck, a charging‑friendly accessory that houses the console, power bank, charger, and cables in separate, protected layers. The case features silicone ventilation to dissipate heat, a fold‑over screen cover that...
“I Think Being an Anchor Is an Honour” – HeavyGod on His Roles, Time at Endpoint, and G2 at IEM...
HeavyGod, G2’s Russian rifler, emphasizes the honor of playing the anchor role, arguing any position can shine. He reflects on G2’s post‑BLAST London struggles, citing lack of stability, pressure handling, and team culture as key issues. The squad is now...
In the Deck-Builder Voraxis You're a Parasite that Eats Through a Living Planet
Voraxis is an indie deck‑builder where players act as a parasite drilling through a living planet. The game uses cards to dictate movement and tile‑eating actions, while gathering "anima" to upgrade the deck during a run. A free demo on...
Steam Beta Fixes Games From Large Libraries on Linux / SteamOS Showing as Not Valid on Current Platform
Valve’s Steam Beta update addresses a lingering Linux issue where Proton games could appear as “Not valid on current platform” for users with extensive libraries. The fix targets both desktop Linux installations and the Steam Deck, ensuring the client correctly recognizes...
Hollow Knight Gets a Patch Adding 21:9 & 16:10 Resolution Support and More
Team Cherry released a new patch for the 2017 metroidvania *Hollow Knight*, adding native 21:9 and 16:10 ultrawide resolution support and pausing the game while inventory menus are open. The update also switches to the Unity Input System for broader...
The Switch 2 Is Getting a New Virtual Console (Kind Of)
Hamster Corporation announced Console Archives, a new line of downloadable retro games for the Switch 2, debuting with Cool Boarders ($12) and Ninja Gaiden II ($8). The service mirrors Nintendo’s former Virtual Console but offers individual purchases rather than a subscription model....
RAMpocalypse Comes for Steam Machine
The episode examines how soaring DRAM and NAND prices—driven by AI data‑center demand and global tariffs—are forcing Valve to delay and rethink pricing for its upcoming Steam Machine, now likely to cost $50‑$100 more than initially projected. It places this...
G2 Sign Skewmond to New LEC Deal Until End of 2028
G2 Esports has extended jungler Rudy “SkewMond” Semaan’s contract through November 2028, outlasting mid‑lane star Caps’ current deal. Skewmond, who earned MVP honors in every playoff series and helped G2 win the 2025 LEC title, now has a four‑year commitment....